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‘When it got to the stage where I couldn’t even keep water down my parents took me to the doctor and I was taken into hospital.’

By the time she ate the meal on Boxing Day 2010, Miss Doig had been suffering from stomach problems for two years, having been diagnosed with inflammation of the pancreas.

After a series of tests in 2009, doctors confirmed that in addition to pancreatitis she was also developing gastroparesis - a condition which prevents the stomach from moving food material down into the small intestine.

Ms Doig (pictured with her mother, Freda) weighs a dangerously low six stone because she is unable to keep food down. Doctors are trying everything to help her gain weight

Ms Doig (pictured before her illness) was diagnosed with gastroparesis after she started vomiting repeatedly and lost weight

Symptoms of gastroparesis include abdominal bloating, severe vomiting and weight loss. It is estimated doctors in the UK deal with just 50 cases a year.

Miss Doig, of Dundee, said the episode on Boxing Day, when the effects of her gastroparesis reached an alarming peak, was devastating.

She said: ‘I couldn’t believe it when the doctors told me my stomach was completely paralysed. I ended up staying in hospital for seven weeks as they tried everything to get my weight up.

‘They even tried in injecting my stomach with Botox chemicals, but it didn’t work.’

Ms Doig (pictured in hospital in December 2012) had surgery to fit a pacemaker to her stomach. It was meant to send electrical impulses to her stomach to encourage it to contract, but the procedure failed

Ms Doig now has to be fed through a tube directly into her bloodstream (pictured) so as to completely bypass her digestive system. Doctors hope this will enable her to finally gain weight

Doctors eventually agreed to carry out a complex operation to fit Miss Doig’s stomach with a pacemaker in an attempt to help her keep food down.

The device works by sending electrical signals to the stomach to tell it to contract and process food.

Soon after the procedure at Ross Hall Hospital in Glasgow in August 2011, she realised the surgery had not gone to plan.

She said: ‘The pain was the first thing that hit me. I’d never felt anything like it.

‘I was given morphine but it didn’t help. I spent the whole night crying because the pain was so bad, which was really tough for my mum to watch. I got out five days later, but I was still in agony.’

Ms Doig (pictured after her pacemaker operation) said: 'I couldn't believe it when the doctors told me my stomach was completely paralysed. I ended up staying in hospital for seven weeks as they tried everything to get my weight up'

Ms Doig (pictured on holiday in 2012 when she was so weak she needed a wheelchair) was briefly fed through a tube into her stomach but this did not stop her vomiting

Miss Doig’s worst fears were confirmed when she continued to vomit almost every time she ate.

Her weight remained dangerously low and she vomited up to 80 times a week.

Eventually, doctors suggested feeding her by a tube into her stomach in a bid to increase her weight.

She said: ‘At first, I really hated the idea of tube feeding and became really upset, but I didn’t have much choice as I could hardly keep anything down.

Ms Doig (pictured with her mother while she was being tube fed) says being fed directly into her bloodstream is making her feel much better as she no longer feels sick

‘In the end, the experience wasn’t
nearly as bad as I thought it would be, but it still made me feel sick.
The nurses were so supportive.

‘I hoped the pacemaker would start working, but sadly that wasn’t the case.’

In September this year Miss Doig was fitted with a Hickman line which she says directs nutrition directly into her bloodsteam, avoiding her digestive system entirely.

She said: ‘The tube feeding wasn’t helping me to put on weight, so I’m now using a line which enters at my shoulder, passes the lung and heart and goes straight to the liver.

'Everyone's confident that my weight will start to pick up now,' she said. 'I'm feeling happy, and positive'

‘I feel much better now, because I don’t feel sick all the time.

‘I need to be connected to the feeding system between 7pm and 9am every night for six nights a week. I have to avoid going out at night so I can be at home, but overall I’m coping.’

Miss Doig continues to weigh around 6st but her doctors expect her to put on weight over the coming months.

‘Everyone’s confident that my weight will start to pick up,’ she said. ‘I’m feeling happy in my mind, and positive.’

WHAT IS GASTROPARESIS AND WHAT CAUSES IT?

Gastroparesis is a chronic condition in which the stomach is unable to empty in the normal way.

Symptoms including feeling sick and vomiting when eating, bloating, loss of appetite and weight loss.

The problem is thought to be caused by a problem with the nerves or muscles controlling the emptying of the stomach.

In many cases, the cause of this nerve damage is unknown but it can also be caused by poorly controlled diabetes.

Other possible causes include Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and some medications.

The condition cannot be cured but it can usually be controlled.

Some people are able to manage the condition by changing their diet, for example by eating six small meals a day or by sticking to soft, easily digestible foods.

In some cases, symptoms can be improved with medication but other people require injections of Botox into the valve between their stomach and small intestine.

If all of these options fail, a patient can have a new procedure which involves fitting a pacemaker device to encourage the stomach to process food.

If none of these options succeed in making the stomach process food, the patient will have to be fed through a tube.